Thomas "Tom" Pauley
Thomas "Tom" Pauley was a contestant on Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 8th place. Personality Tom was known for being having a loud mouth, trash talking everybody, and generally being disrespectful against Ramsay. Despite claiming himself to be the most experienced on the blue team due to this age, he switched jobs four times before becoming a chef, which lead him to give out continuously awful performances and to be the most nominated on the blue team. Season 2 Episode 1 The twelve contestants arrived in Hell's Kitchen on a bus and were greeted by Jean-Philippe. They celebrated with some champagne glasses, got to know each other, and had a first look at the restaurant. Afterwards, Ramsay walked through the hallway, opened the dining room doors, and greeted the contestants by introducing himself and announcing that only one of them was going to win the competition. The only way that person would win though was to impress him, and asked all of them to cook their signature dishes. During the Signature Dish Challenge, Tom could not find a corkscrew to open his wine bottle, so he was forced to open it with a knife. However, the strikes against the wine bottle broke it, and he admitted that it looked a lot easier in the movies. He was the sixth person to have his dish judged by Ramsay, but when the latter lifted his dome, he became fearful. However, he stepped forward, Ramsay saw that he was sweating, and he called himself a schweatzer. He made shrimp scampi with cooked Caesar salad, but that shocked Ramsay as he was never served a cooked Caesar salad before in his life. Finding the concept to be disgusting, Ramsay took the Caesar salad off the plate and into his hands, before spitting out the shrimps. However, he claimed that he could handle the criticisms, and if Ramsay did not care, then he would not have broken his chops. After the challenge, he was placed in the blue team because Ramsay declared that for the first time ever, the teams are divided by gender, men in the blue team, women in the red team. He was the only one who applauded that decision and claimed he does not have to check on anybody, and could not ask for a better situation. During prep, Tom knew that the men wanted to get out before the women, but was sweating in the food, Ramsay warned him that they were in danger of getting closed before even opening, and told him to start over. He did so, and put a head scarf on to contain the sweat. However, his mishap caused the blue team to finish prep hours after the red team completed theirs. During dinner service, Tom was on the appetizer station. Before the first ticket arrived, Ramsay reminded him to not sweat in the food, and warned him that he did not give a fuck if he did the first order himself. Later, he sent up raw scallops, and Ramsay told him to start the table again and move his ass. However, he felt he was lost in the woods. An hour later, he got his refire accepted, and appetizers were leaving the blue kitchen, making him feel he did good despite a slow start. After Ramsay dealt with an angry customer about a pumpkin risotto, a fire erupted on his stove. He tried to put it out by blowing on it, but was unsuccessful. Eventually, he was saved by Gabe who turned the gas off for him. Minutes later, he failed to notice his stove was still off due to the fire incident, he was slow communicating to Ramsay about it, and the latter told him to think with his head next time. After three hours with barely any food sent, and the customers shouting, "I want my food!", Ramsay shut down both kitchens. The blue team won the dinner service. Episode 2 The next morning, after only two hours of sleep, the contestants were woken up by Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann playing cowbells at 5:24 AM. They were told to go outside immediately, and once outside at the loading area, Ramsay recalled how the previous service was embarrassing. Afterwards, Ramsay wanted them to have a good idea on how much food they wasted last night as a restaurant would never survive with a lot of waste. To get his point across, Ramsay ordered the chefs to jump into the dumpsters and pull out all the garbage from last night. During the task, Tom called it humiliating. After that, Ramsay told the contestants that he did not want another large amount of waste in the competition ever again, and he knew that Hell’s Kitchen was fair game, before being grateful that the former did not force them to eat the trash. Now that the chefs understood the lesson, Ramsay ordered them to clean up because they stunk. During the Perfect Steak Cut Challenge, Tom was the final person from the blue team to have his attempt judged, and hoped to have made enough for his team. As his steaks were accepted by Ramsay, Maribel became fearful. In the end, he had 5 steaks accepted, but it was not enough and the blue team lost the challenge 11-12. Despite that, his performance was praised by Ramsay, and when he heard the women's reward, he arrogantly said big f’ning deal as he wanted to become an Executive Chef, not be on vacation. The blue team were punished by cutting all the steaks for the next dinner service, as a steak special would be featured. During the punishment, he wanted to sweep the floor with the women. The next morning, everybody noticed that Larry was missing, and Tom asked if anybody saw them. Neither Gabe, Heather, nor Virginia could find him, but Rachel was not happy when he started to trash talk Larry. During dinner service, Tom was on the meat station. When Ramsay called the first ticket, he asked him to repeat the order, which Ramsay refused, and was told to read the ticket himself. An hour into service, he had a communication breakdown with Giacomo, who was on garnish. His duck and chicken were ready, but was unable to send them up due to Giacomo's problems. Three hours into service, Ramsay made him and his team stand in front of the pass to have a look in the dining room. When almost every customer left, Ramsay shut down both kitchens. The blue team lost the dinner service, and Garrett was named "Best of the Worst". During deliberation, he asked Giacomo about the fried cabbage, but the latter argued that it happened based on poor communication. However, he accused Giacomo of screwing him up, while the latter did not want to be the target like he has been his entire life. When he insultingly told Giacomo to get a haircut, the latter felt the former was doing everything to stay as nobody wanted to leave. Tom was Garrett's second nominee for elimination, with Giacomo being the first. During his plea, Ramsay asked him how many entrées he served that night, but he answered zero because of lack of coordination. He promised that he would never let that happen again, and Ramsay believed him by sending him back in line, therefore surviving elimination Episode 3 Back in the dorms, Giacomo asked Tom how it felt to have Ramsay send him back in line, and he said he was relieved and felt Ramsay would love to see him win as he was the oldest. The next morning, he answered Ramsay on the phone, and told everybody to get in the dining room immediately. During the Relay Challenge, Tom was the first one to go for his team. He received the information about what the 3 dishes of the challenge were, chicken, tortellini and salmon. He found pre-made tortellini to cook with, but Ramsay caught him trying to use the pre-made tortellini and reminded him that the kitchen was stocked on items to make fresh ones. He successfully communicated all the information that Giacomo would need to continue. When the challenge ended, he was confident as the red team only had two dishes instead of three. However, during Ramsay critiques, he tried to interject because he wanted to say something, but Ramsay told him to stand up straight as he was lying on the counter like a big fat fucking slob. However, he retorted that nobody would want to get in a street fight with him, and felt Ramsay was lucky he signed a contract stating he would never touch anybody on the show. The blue team lost the challenge 1-2, and were punished by participating in Laundry Day. During the punishment, he felt the women should have lost the challenge instead as, despite trying not to be sexist, women were better at laundry than men. Later, the men jokingly asked him to show them how to wash by hand, but he told them to go fuck themselves as he refused to wash by hand During dinner service, Tom was on the fish station. At one point, Keith asked him to get some tomato sauce, but after Garrett took a batch of tomato sauce on the garnish station, Keith told him to do not mind anymore. Despite that, he continued making it, stating he already started. When Ramsay asked him what he was doing as they already had tomato sauce, he said Keith told him to, but the latter said he had it. He was furious at Keith and accused him of throwing him under the bus. Later, Ramsay made him switch to the garnish station because of Giacomo's lie to Ramsay, but he burned his hand while grabbing a pan, acting like if it was torturing him. Keith looked at his hand, but was unsympathetic, saying he should take it like a man and move on. He accused Keith of burying him when he reminded him about the sauce incident, leading the latter to say he could not take it anymore. As he was still complaining about his burned hand, Ramsay asked him to show it, but saw nothing, and told him that he did not need a drama queen as he was forty-three years old. However, he still claimed that his hand hurt, and that he was going to puke. Minutes later, he ran out of mashed potatoes, discouraging Ramsay, and when he asked him what he was doing, he looked confused and was accused of giving. Keith told Ramsay that they made more mashed potatoes during prep, but believed he burned them, which he revealed to be the truth. When he declared he was trying to make an ass out of himself, and Ramsay congratulated him by saying he successfully did. After many frustrations from both kitchens, Ramsay decided to shut down the restaurant. The blue team lost the service, Ramsay only wished that Tom would cook more, and they were tasked to nominate one person each for elimination. During deliberation, he refused to lobby for his place to stay as he felt it was the same as quitting, but Keith said he was pissed about the way he worked. After, he challenged Keith to vote for him, even though the latter argued it was not an easy decision. Later, he talked to himself alone at the patio as he kept saying that he was trying. Tom nominated Giacomo for elimination, reminding the latter about the oven incident, and was nominated by all of his three teammates. During his plea, he felt he was the sharpest guy in the competition despite lacking the culinary skills. Despite receiving the most votes from his team, he survived elimination. However, Ramsay reminded him that he dodged yet another bullet, and told him to thank Giacomo for being the worst that night. While being dismissed, he said that he was pissed by his teammates votes against him and was ready to make them regret it Episode 4 Back in the dorms, Tom went on a war with his teammates for nominating him. He told Garrett he had his back, and expected him to have his. After that, he went on the patio and talked with Heather and Rachel about how he believed that he sacrificed more than anyone to be there, which infuriated them. They mentioned the time with family they sacrificed, but Tom said that he was only in it for the money. The two girls were irritated by his way of thinking, leading Heather to tell him she cares about the experience to work under Ramsay, and Rachel to tell him she and Heather were born to do that, to which Tom replied that he didn't care. The next morning, Tom and the blue team welcomed Heather as a new teammate. After that, when Ramsay announced they were all going out to visit the most popular restaurant in Los Angeles, he thought they were going to Spago. He was upset when they arrived at Pink's Hot Dogs. He declared he worked at a hot dog place when he was in college, and Ramsay invited him to go behind the counter to make a hot dog. Keith stated he belonged there, and Ramsay asked him to get out before he sweats in the food, referring to his incident during the first dinner service prep. After that, Ramsay declared Hell's Kitchen would open for lunch for the first time ever. He ran back to the restaurant, along with the other contestants, to prep his kitchen with only two hours to go. During the Lunch Service Challenge, Tom, who worked the salad station, got into an argument with Garrett, who was arranging his station for him. Both of them were calmed down by Heather. Despite this, the blue team succeeded in completing all of their orders, and was declared the winners when the children rated their food 9.85 out of 10, compared to the red team's 9.84. As a reward, they got to enjoy a day at the amusement park, at Santa Monica Beach, to feel like children again. During the reward, Tom was unaware his teammates were conspiring to get rid of him. During dinner service, Tom was on the meat station. Before the first ticket, Heather told him his pan was not hot enough. Moments later, he told Ramsay he forgot to cook the quail who was called an hour ago. After that, he sent undercooked Wellingtons to the pass due to his miscommunication with Keith, which Ramsay schooled him about. An hour and a half into service, Ramsay was irritated by his way of organizing his station as he was cooking orders for the next tables and not listening to him. After Ramsay told him he does not have passion, his duck in his pan began to burn, and Ramsay had to tell him to leave it. In the process, Ramsay called him a "fucking dick" and a "donkey". Keith was then asked to get on the meat station by Ramsay, and cook for him, and Ramsay told him to shut up, open his big eyes, and watch what was Keith doing. After a lot of frustration in both kitchens and only half of the dining room served, Ramsay threw his apron and towel at him, and declared both teams losers, and told them to nominate one member each for elimination. Tom was the blue team's nominee, and joined Virginia from the red team. They were later joined by Rachel, who nominated herself. Despite telling Ramsay he cannot be beaten down, he was eliminated for being a consistently terrible performer and lacking the experience to work in a kitchen. During his exit interview, he said that he loved working in the kitchen and was not going to give up on his dream, but found it scary to look for a job now, before asking Ramsay for a recommendation. Ramsay's comment: "Tom's got a big heart, sadly he's a really crap cook. Why on earth he's ever decided to attempt to become a chef? We'll never know." Episode 10 When he returned for the last dinner service of the season, Tom was surprised that Virginia was in the finals as he thought it was "three strikes, you're out", like himself. He was Virginia's second pick, after Keith and before Giacomo. That decision made Heather happy as she did not want to have him on his team. Back in the dorms, he was called a weak link by Virginia, along with Giacomo, which demotivated him. But, he got his motivation back when he was promised $1000 if Virginia was to win. He was happy about that as he was unemployed at the moment. During dinner service, Tom was on the meat station. He stated that for one time, he would like to be on the winning side, and was determined to be so. Almost an hour into service, when Virginia told him to hurry up, he started to give her attitude as he claimed he does not want to be talked to like that. Later, he was giving her attitude once again, saying he does not want to be under a woman's authority, because it reminded him his ex-girlfriend. After that, he was slicing some chicken roulade when he cut his finger pretty bad, and rinsed his hand under water. He showed his injury to Sous Chef Mary-Ann, who told him to go see a medic. When he went in the back to get some bandages on his finger, he showed his injury to Ramsay, who told him that was nothing and that he did not need a big drama queen. Minutes later, he came back in the kitchen, asking what was needed. Virginia called out the order, and he successfully sent out acceptable main courses. A few moments later, he asked what was on the ticket, and Ramsay told him to move his big fat ass and check the ticket himself. Near the end of service, the team moved on to desserts and he successfully managed to send them out, along with his two teammates. When both teams were lined up, Ramsay congratulated them and gave a big round of applause. Virginia eventually lost the finals to Heather, and Tom did not win his $1000. Nomination history Trivia *He is the first contestant in the history of the show to be nominated three times in a row. *He and Polly are the oldest contestants of the season, at age 43 (55/6 today). *He is the second returning contestant to have sustained an injury during the final service, following Andrew from Season 1. Quotes *"I sweat! I sweat all the time! I'm a "schweatzer"! Don't worry about that!" *"Who do you think you're talking to? You don't want to get in a street fight with me, trust me." *"He's lucky that I've signed a thing saying I wouldn't touch anybody here." *"The women should have lost this challenge, and I'm not being sexist, but women... do laundry better than men!" *(After being eliminated) "I love working in the kitchen. By no means have I given up. This is the path I've chosen. Ya know what's scary? I gotta go find a job. Hey, Chef, I need a reccomendation." Category:Chef Category:Season 2 Category:New Jerseyans Category:Final Service Brigade Category:8th Place